Remembering our roots – Linton & Donna Treacy

Times Contributor

 

Linton’s great, great grandfather arrived in St Mary’s, Ont. from Ireland in 1847. This was the time when the potato famine was raging throughout Ireland. His maternal grandfather arrived in the Wintering Hills, north of Hussar in 1902, where he started ranching. Hussar wasn’t incorporated as a town until April 20, 1928, although there were many buildings there prior to this.

Linton’s father came west from St Mary’s to the Blackie/High River area in 1906. When his parents were married at the Wintering Hills Ranch in 1913, the minister had to be brought from Gleichen. After the wedding ceremony, the new bride and groom took the minister back to Gleichen, where they caught the train to Calgary for their honeymoon. Linton advised that the Treacys came to Canada as builders, and that there are quite a number of heritage houses still standing in the surrounding areas. Linton was born in Calgary, the eighth of nine children in a musical family. He attended one-room schools in Atlas and Lawson, before attending high school in Drumheller. In those days, it was quite normal to stay in the dormitory while attending high school. At a very young age, Linton began playing the piano. He never had any formal lessons, but picked up new music by ear. He played for his first dance at Rabbit Lake School when he was 12 years old, and received a gratuity of $2. He was instrumental in forming the Hussar Orchestra, and throughout his life, has played at hundreds, if not thousands, of weddings, anniversaries, graduations, funerals, and more recently at Senior’s Lodges. He advises that he has played in every community hall in this area! In the old days, he says, one used to smoke inside and drink outside! 

After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Saskatchewan where he obtained an engineering degree. He spent some time in the oil patch, before returning to Hussar to farm.

Donna Kinney’s family history dates back to 1651, when the first record of a ‘Kinney’ shows a Henry Kinney being married in Massachusetts, New England. The paternal side of her family were Puritans seeking religious freedom. Her father moved from Vermont to Calgary by train, in 1912. She says, he actually got off the train in Winnipeg, but it was so cold, he immediately got back on, and stayed there until the train reached Calgary, where there was a Chinook blowing. So when he got off, he stayed! Her maternal grandfather moved from England to Calgary in 1910. Since he previously was a farmer, he knew how to use two horses pulling a dray, so  he got a job hauling rocks to the site where the Centre Street Bridge was being built. Later in life, he worked for the CPR Irrigation System, now known as W.I.D. in the Dalroy and Strathmore areas.

Donna grew up north of Nightingale, and attended one-room schools in Valley Gardens and Nightingale. She attended high school in Kathryn, where one of her teachers was Irene Hanson.

At this time, the Wheatland School Division Dormitory was located there. She continued her education at the University of Alberta where she obtained a Teacher’s Certificate with a Home Economics Major. Donna went on to teach in Wheatland County, and later the Calgary School Board. Linton and Donna were married on April 4, 1959 at St Stephen’s Anglican Church in Calgary. Their first residence was a mobile home, located in a stubble field! They lived there, until they’d completed the building of their house and other farm buildings. The farmyard was surrounded by many, many trees, which provided a good windbreak from all directions. 

They have four children and 13 grandchildren, and because of the family belief in the importance of university education, all of them have attended university and have degrees. Their son has operated the family farm since they retired and moved to Strathmore in 1990.

Linton and Donna have spent their lives in Wheatland County, where they have been very involved with all kinds of activities – fundraising to build Lord of All Lutheran Church in Strathmore, Treasurer of the Hussar AG Society when the first arena was built, and assisting with the Western Art Section at The Calgary Stampede.

Donna is a Fair judge, and regularly judges food and creative arts in Gleichen, Milo, Cochrane, Calgary, Springbank, Chestermere and Millarville. She was instrumental in starting the Strathmore Horticulture and Creative Arts Show on Heritage Days. They are both strong believers in the values of 4-H, and Donna helped to organize The Nifty Knots 4-H Clothing Club in Hussar. Linton has always appreciated a good piano and was instrumental in obtaining two pianos and an organ for Hussar Church, a piano for the Hussar Hall, and one for Lord of All Lutheran Church, in Strathmore. The main changes they’ve seen in this area include the growth of Strathmore and surrounding areas, the increasing number of acreages, the arrival of big box stores, and the size of farms and new technology for farmers.

Both are really concerned and saddened by the moves of so many businesses from the downtown core towards the highway. They asked me “what will become of all the empty buildings left behind?”